Rangers of a Hybrid
by Mabel-Zen
Summary: A group of teenagers receive the power of the Rangers as Evil plans at another chance to conquer Earth and all its inhabitants. 'preciate some R&Rs. Currently up: Chapter 4
1. A Dream

**Chapter 1: A Dream**

There are many planets in space, and each have tales of their own. This one, however, takes place on one familiar blue sphere. There was an island on that planet, one of many, but this was the place where Good and Evil would take their next fight. In the southern region of this island stood a school. In this same school there were canteens, and it was in one of them (number 6, to be exact) that it all started. Yet again.

Two girls were chattering away at one of the tables. Not an unusual sight, no? Maybe, but not on this day. One was practically rolling on the ground in peals of hysterical laughter, while the other fought to keep her giggles in.

'I know it was funny, but I didn't think it was _that_ funny', she thought, watching her friend clutch the table edge, still helpless with mirth.

The laughing girl had dark, shoulder-length hair that curled out messily at the ends, and her thin-framed glasses were askew. She was Kath, a girl who was petite in build and noticeably shorter than her friend. Kath leaned forward, gasping for air from her fit.

"Lemme get this straight, we were Power Rangers?"

Running her hand through black chin-length hair Mabel, the other with hair that reached chin-level and sported tanned skin and dark brown eyes, rolled hers at her friend, "Unfortunately, yes."

Kath sniggered, valiantly trying to hold back another laughing fit but failing miserably. Mabel was another girl, the same age as Kath, and her good friend. They were an odd pair, one tall and the other petite; one looked like a nerd, even though her character portrayed something else, and the other a plain Jane.

"Good grief! Kath, it wasn't funny! It's your craze, not mine!"

"I don't think so! Admit it! You like the Power Rangers!"

"I do not!"

"Do too!"

"Oh come on, Ranger Me and Ranger You running around _school _of all places and getting beaten up by Putties? Not wonderful."

Kath couldn't stop the grin rising to her lips. Even the bluntness of her tablemate couldn't throw a shadow what had just been told just a few minutes ago. Mabel was clearly in denial, and was doing a rather pathetic job of maintaining her defenses.

"Continue, continue!" Kath urged her friend, who was still halfway through her plate of wanton mee pok noodles. She could tell that Mabel wanted to get back to her lunch, but she was not letting her off until the whole tale was told. At least a couple hundred times more.

"As you insist. All right, we were sitting like this, in the canteen, talking to each other, you as your usual self ranting on about Power Rangers. You know that, don't you?

"It so happened that at the point where you're whining about Tommy and Kimberly breaking up..."

"They should have been together!" Kath exclaimed.

"...do you want to hear the story or not?"

"..."

Satisfied, Mabel continued, "Two flashes of light appeared above us and thrust themselves at us to our necks. Strangely enough, no one else noticed this."

Mabel raised an eyebrow, marvelling once again at the cosmological inconsistencies of the dream world. That's it, no more buttered peas for supper, she thought to herself.

"And theeeeeeeen?" Kath demanded, beating her fists on the table.

"The blinding light left us both in a good daze. But suddenly we saw a team of Putties running down single file down the staircase behind us. _This_, everyone noticed."

"Before we could move, there was this platoon of Putties making their way through the food court. They were getting closer, closer, all around, everywhere!"

Mabel waved her arms around in the air to dramatize the story, drawing some curious glances from other canteen-goers.

"But then something inside us lit up, something that told us it was time to -"

"MORPH INTO RAINBOW RANGER AND ZEN RANGER!" Kath eagerly butted in.

"Yes, as you so eloquently dubbed our imaginary egos. Next thing we knew, we were clutching at our necks and yelling out Zen and Rainbow Morphs. Rangers."

Mabel then looked down and noticed that in her enthusiasm, she'd knocked her cup of ice-lemon tea and there were ice cubes sitting in her noodles. It didn't look very appetizing now, and there was still half a day to go._ 'So much for lunch.'_

"Very new and unskilled rangers. And when the Putties turned to look at us, we just kicked up our heels and charged at them.

"But that was when where, instead of us kicking butt, ours got kicked."

Kath sniggered again.

"But, hope was not lost. Right before you about to get taken down, a golden figure swooped in from behind and clubbed the Puttie on the head. The Putties were about to gang attack me but then a silver figure took the blow for me."

"That's so romantic!"

"Quiet, Kath!"

Kath canned a retort. 

"Even then, we were still cornered. Surrounded on all sides."

She dramatically took a swig of her ice lemon tea, and then remembered it was all over her food.

Kath blinked at Mabel, "Continue! Continue!"

Mabel smiled, "And that was when I woke up."

"Aww sh-poo!"

It was the middle of a tutorial. Everyone was hard at work, hunched over the keyboards and clicking and dragging their mice here and there.

Mabel and Kath had enrolled into a course that focused on the composition and synthesis of computer music. Being music-lovers, they found the course as their calling, and both had met each other that way.

The two girls being the friends they that were, did their work together and finished them before everyone else did. Mabel was absorbed improving her work.

Meanwhile, Kath would have liked to practice on the synthesizer in front of her, but she could not get over it. She was hopping about madly inside herself, and struggled to keep still. She could not practice, not now when something thrilling was in her mind.

As had countless other fans, she had fantasized endlessly about being a part of her favourite fandom, fighting alongside her childhood heroes,

Rainbow, huh? She mused to herself. It wasn't a colour she would have chosen for herself, but it was a path to many possibilities.

She was snapped rudely out of her daydream by a sharp prod on the back.

It was Mabel, a wide smirk on her face.

"Ow!" Kath harshly whispered, in spite of the thick bulky headphones everyone else was wearing that rendered you almost deaf to the rest of the world.

"Lost in Lala-land, aren't you?"

"I love that dream you had!"

"Nightmare," Mabel corrected, "and don't dwell on it. I didn't like the idea of being wrapped up in spandex and forced to take down baddies and into a life of secrecy."

Kath frowned a bit. Of course, it wasn't all sunshine and roses for a superhero (I mean, look at Spiderman), and she had her academic life and a future to think of. But the childish voice buried deep down inside her prompted her to say...

"But won't it be cool to be a superhero?"

"In your dreams! No doubt, it's a lavish job of glory, but it's brutal and hard!"

"Maybe so, but I still wish, I really wish, that I'd be a Power Ranger! A real live Power Ranger! Rainbow Ranger!"

Mabel stared at her. "You're obsessed."

Kath could tell she was adamant, but it was always funny when her normally peaceable friend got ticked.

"Don't you want to save people? Make the world a better place? Rescue some kittens down from trees? That's gotta be like a million community service points! If we have the ability to give a little more to make everyone happier, then we should do all we can to serve!"

"Grief! I tell you, I wholly and honestly don't want to be a Ranger. I don't like the idea at the least. It's going to be tough, handling homework, schoolwork, the other duties I'm bound to and then I get plopped with a superhero identity and powers on my lap. It's tough enough with a normal lifestyle and a superhero job won't help."

The boys sitting next to her spun around at the disturbance to the peace. Realizing that it was just Mabel letting off heat, they shrugged it off and returned to work.

It was Kath's turn to shake her head. Mabel was speaking the truth that shattered her thoughts.

It is not possible to be a Ranger; neither was it going to be easy once she becomes one. Even if Mabel was great to talk to about their crazes (they chatted lots about Power Rangers, Transformers and Bionicle, hence they're good friends), Mabel was also straightforward and frank. Not only that, she was a painful goody-goody-two-shoes and would try to debate rather than pull a fisticuff. Meanwhile, Kath was admittedly pesky despite an angelic outlook, often thinking of crazy ideas with Mabel at recess.

Giving a sigh of defeat, Kath tapped a key on the synthesizer.

"Fine, it's a dream. Nothing more than that. But it's a lovely dream!"

Mabel chuckled, not in an unkind manner.

"Fine, it's a lovely dream to you," she flicked her wrists in an airy manner, "I'll call it my nightmare. I'm saving my work and shutting down the Mac. Class's going to end soon."

"And we'll think of powers for our Ranger forms?" Kath asked eagerly.

The latter rolled her eyes, "Dream on!"

A pause.

"And no more corny inspirational speeches!"

Upon a thorny throne, a lady sat upon, head supported by her hand, stoning at the Earth below her from the safety and comfort of her ship.

She was inhuman; one could have told from her green skin that was at a discomforting hue that would have made your skin crawl upon the sight. Her fingernails were elongated many times over the length of her fingers and curled at the tips elegantly, painted in a sophisticated sinister black, and these she drummed against the cold armrest of her throne. Her lengthy silver hair was pinned up as two cones reaching for the ceiling, bound with brown satin ribbon, and the black bands, ornate with red crystals of foreign origin, which shaped her hair and lay on her shoulders, echoed the same sinister color of her dagger-like nails. A billowing gold dress flowed to the polished cold floor below, laid out to spread across the throne and lavishly roll onto the ground.

One knew that her skin color was actually a natural copper-tan. This, Goldar, Squatt and Baboo knew. Her skin has changed green ever since Lord Zedd had left her after their failed conquest for Earth, and she stopped looking at her nails and left them to grow. She did this every day without fail: sit on her luxurious throne and stare at the planet that escaped her grasp.

Neither dared to approach her since, merely just providing meals. The trio knew how terrible her wrath was. The slightest memory of her defeat to the Earth's Power Rangers was enough to aggravate her to blow up the ship. The ship bears scars of her terrible temper, and her staff lay by her throne's side ominously, the slender fingers twirled around it.

The canine minion tapped the ghoulish chimp-like ally on the shoulder.

"It's been years since Her Lordship has called for our services! I think we better prepare some résumés and get moving!"

"And you're Her Lordship's most loyal servant? So much for canine looks. I'm not leaving!"

Baboo turned to look at the queenly figure behind him, and turned back to Goldar.

"Even if it don't look like it, Her Ladyship needs us most now."

"How can you tell? She has not noticed us for eons!"

"Ten Earth years. She has changed, and we all know why."

"The-" Goldar cupped his hand and whispered as softly as he could, "Power Rangers?"

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!" Rita rose from her throne, her once hazel eyes now glowing amber with rage. The staff shot out a beam at the ceiling above Goldar and Baboo, and it merely disintegrated to the support beams in the ceiling, raining debris on the two.

"I told you, my minions," she sneered, her staff still outstretched and her voice shrill, "not to mention THEM ever again!"

"Our apologies to you, My Lady!" The two beasts cried for mercy.

The woman sank back into her chair. The green skin just got greener.

They never left her mind. The thoughts, the memories and the beasts that cowered in her throne room all reminded her of those embarrassing cheats that, at the end of the day, outdid her minions and men and even her Lord Zedd and sent her away.

She wanted Earth so badly now. Ten years of change have passed under her, and she yearned to see what was going on without her. Were there new Rangers? Were the old ones she battled and enslaved in the past still existent today?

Her brows plunged down as she thought of that. What she'd give to get back at them…

"Something bothering you, my lady?"

"WHAT IS IT?" She raged, and turned to see who it was.

It was Lord Zedd!

Her hand flew to her heart. Trembling, she rose to her feet, eyes fixed upon the muscular red villain that was kneeling before her, a hand on his chest and his head bowed.

"Zedd… you've…"

"Returned, yes," The muscular male before her rose to his feet. Goldar, Baboo and Squatt bowed in reverence to their old master.

He went up to Rita, and clasped his hands around hers. "You look different since I've left."

"You should never have," Rita could only smile back. The green skin slowly started to morph, reverting back to the original copper-tan that she had.

"Yes, I shouldn't. But now I've returned. I've regained my power and strength from that little hiatus," he gestured to the hole in the ceiling, "and you too, almost."

She blushed and turned away to hide the red on her face, "I sit on my throne every day, anticipating your return, and waiting for the day for Earth to return to our grasp once more."

"And today is the day!" Lord Zedd raised his staff as a show of his might, "The protectors of Earth we once fought are no longer there. NO ONE protects the planet! It's ours for the taking!"

A cackle of triumph came from him and Rita Repulsa's hideous laugh joined his, and the whole ship shook.

Evil has returned!


	2. The Reality

**Chapter 2: Reality**

Mabel sat herself down in front of Kath, holding a tray with a dish wanton mee pok and a bowl of soup, complimented with an ice-cold cup of ice lemon tea.

"You eat the same thing every day!"

"It's nice!" Mabel defended her interest, "besides, you eat the same egg noodles every day too, _and _coke!"

"Fine!" Kath raised a few strands of the noodle Mabel mentioned to her mouth.

But they did not enter her mouth. Her eyes started to glaze.

"Hello?" Mabel waved a hand in front of her friend, "Earth to Kath!"

Kath shook her head and accidentally shook her noodle strands as well, sending droplets of soup mixed with egg yolk flying and landing on Mabel's white shirt.

Mabel ignored the offending stains as well as she could as she tucked into her meal.

* * *

Rita Repulsa looked at the holographic image of Earth projected above the war table. Lord Zedd stood close to her, while Goldar, Baboo and Squatt stood opposite the couple. The lovey-dovey between the two villains was absolutely revolting. 

"Where shall we strike first? Only 15 putties are at the ready."

The Earth holographic image twirled unhurriedly about. Rita was deep in thought, eyes on the planet.

"We will need to strike elsewhere, not the same place where we first were," she pointed to a continent on the planet that showed with a black 'X' on it, "and far away from there."

"Somewhere smaller, less noticeable, and not so open to the other continents," Lord Zedd agreed.

"That last point is redundant. When we take over that one continent, let the other continents know! We'll use that place as a base and from there, our control will spread!"

Goldar was watching the planet spin with much interest. A tiny island caught his eye.

"This one?" He pointed to it.

The two villains honed in onto the speck of an island. The enlarged view revealed an island surrounded by sea, with the nearest land still many miles away.

Rita Repulsa looked to Lord Zedd.

"Will you be so kind and lead the first attack?"

Lord Zedd replied with a demure smile, "Of course, my lady."

Squatt shivered with disgust.

* * *

"Tell me again!" 

Mabel nearly choked on her dumpling. Kath had said it so spontaneously. It was no wonder, actually, for she had finished her food more than five minutes ago and there was half an hour of boredom awaiting her, and Mabel was about done with a heap of mee pok to go.

"Kath, spare me! I haven't finished yet!"

"Oh, please-please-please-please-please!"

"Fine!" Mabel finished that dumpling and gave an inaudible groan. Kath could be _so_ pressing.

"It was a day like this that occurred in my dream. It was you and I in a crowded canteen, seated like so, when-"

Before Mabel could continue, a blinding flash erupted in between the two girls. Both girls cried in agony and shielded their eyes, Kath shielding her face in her arms. Around them, people were shouting in terror and the sound of scuffling feet and pelting footsteps flowed past them.

Kath recovered first, raising her eyes from the shelter of her arms to her surroundings. The food court was almost deserted, save for something headed their way. She could not see them clearly, but she felt that something foreboding was headed their way.

Then, something lightly tapped her collar bone. Kath glanced down, and was shocked to find something was dangling on her neck.

A chain, with what seemed like a lean and lightweight MP3 player attached to it. It was striped with a splash of colors, a rainbow of colors.

Mabel had recovered and found herself wearing a similar chain and pendant as Kath, save hers was a swirl of black and white.

Kath put two and two together. Upon this, she gave a cheer.

"Your dream, Mabel! It's come true! We're Power Rangers!"

"Grief! Kath, this can't be! It must be a prank!"

"Then why do I see Putties?"

Mabel whisked her head to the other end of the food-court.

Grey beings were in a brawl around a group of benches not too far away from them. They looked the least like students, and an ominous red being that stood upon one of the tables laughed mockingly at the going even there.

But amid that fray, the girls could audibly hear the cries of somebody hurt.

Kath wasted no time. "Let's assist!"

"Kath, this isn't a good-"

Kath grabbed hold of her chain. To Mabel's horror, glowing energies of rainbow color warped around the hand of her friend. She clasped fist in hand, and the energies now warped around both her hands. Her left hand folded to four figures, her right hand three that made up the gaps between the fingers. The glow around her fingers was glaring now, swiveling randomly at top speed around her hands.

"Rainbow Ranger, Power-morph!"

Kath drew the fingers across her eyes, parting them sideways. The energies flew to her head and spiraled wildly, forming a large halo around her head.

From there, the rings split into two and spread over her body. She was clad in a spandex suit, boots on her feet instead of sneakers and her head was now covered with a helmet, the wide visor merging from four strips from the left and three from the right. The strange pendant had vanished.

All this took place in mere seconds, and Mabel blinked in surprise at her transformed friend.

"Rainbow Ranger- hey, where's my skirt?" Kath looked about her. There were only tights, no mini-skirt that the girl Rangers she adored sported.

"Never mind the skirt! Mind yourself! What on earth did you do?"

Kath looked at her friend. She looked different, now that Kath was looking at her through a visor. Mind, but she looked slimmer.

"I morphed into Rainbow Ranger! This is so cool-"

A yowl from the group of Putties alerted the two girls.

"Mabel, morph! Now!"

Mabel did not hesitate. Mimicking what her friend Kath did, with a little awkwardness, her hand grasped the monochrome pendant and black and white warps of energy wrapped around her hand.

The hand left the chain, and she tapped her index and third finger, both together, into the palm of her other hand.

"Zen Ranger, Power-morph!"

Like Kath, Mabel drew her hands apart, across her eyes. The energies shot around her head and in an instant, the rings had spread and did their work. Mabel was now in a spandex suit, black and white on equal halves, black left white right, with the two colours merging in a spherical form, much like the infamous 'zen' logo everyone has seen before, at the chest. A helmet of similar design as the top motif was on her head, the visor spreading from two ends on the left and one triangular strip on her right.

"Zen Ranger- EWWWWW!"

Mabel immediately clasped her legs together at the discovery of the feature the suit had: a mini-skirt, which seemed to be made of elastic material that flapped around her thighs and was atrociously short!

"MINI-SKIRT! NO FAIR! I WANT THAT MINI-"

Before Kath could say more, something had clobbered her on the head. That was Mabel, and right now the black and white Ranger pointed towards the Putties. They had lost interest in their old targets.

They had more interest in the two new Rangers that just showed up, and the shouting from one of them.

The group charged at the two girls.

Mabel was about to bolt when Kath gripped her on the arm.

"We're rangers now! We don't flee!"

"We have a good reason to flee! We can't fight!"

The first Puttie reached Kath and was about to club her on the head when she lashed out her fist at the little diamond-shaped crest on its chest. The Puttie disappeared.

Mabel took the hint, with a hint of annoyance. A second was approaching from the right, and a kick that missed the chest struck it on the head, sending it reeling into three others behind it.

Chaos broke loose. The Putties were at alert mode, these Rangers were not weak! Their numbers were falling like flies! Somehow both Rangers knew that kicking them square in the chest is the lethal blow to finish them, and they delivered them whenever they could.

Kath ducked to avoid a blow, and felt something roll over her. Two hands grabbed her shoulders and wild kicks lashed out behind her, driving three more Putties to oblivion.

Kath recovered and found herself back to back with Mabel.

"Cool move! Where'd you learn it from?"

"Jackie Chan."

A pair of Putties dashed into the two and Mabel lashed a leg and one of them spiraled to the side.

Kath had another idea: she grabbed the oncoming Puttie by a shoulder and slammed it down to the ground. A good stomp on the crest sent it away.

"Nice one! Where you'd learn it?" Mabel said in between pants, but the helmet hid it from view.

"Aikido."

It was then Lord Zedd had enough of the hoopla. His army of fifteen was reduced to three, and the plan to take over the building was crushed.

But all is not lost unless he says it. He readied his staff, and charged into the fray.

The remaining three Putties were taken down by Kath who unleashed her yellow-belt skills at them. She had merely recovered from the exertion of energy when she noticed Lord Zedd coming their way.

There was something in her that bugged her to beat up the red villain in front of her. She knew his weaknesses, she knew his powers and she knew his skills. She had everything in her head that she needed to thwart him.

Yet there was this other bit that told her that she was facing a veteran fighter and an extremely powerful being that doesn't play with his prey before finishing it and her skill was lowly compared to his.

She chose neither, as Mabel already took control of the situation.

The Zen Ranger shoved the Rainbow Ranger out of harm's way, and herself too. The enemy could not stop and dashed past them.

Now the way to the wounded was clear.

Kath and Mabel flitted to the table. When they arrived to the particular cluster, they were robbed of words.

There were two Rangers recovering in front of them, one in a gold and bronze suit and helmet a single wide band across the helmet was leaning against one of the chairs that was rooted to the ground, the other echoed the same suit design save that it was silver and grey was lying on its back.

"There're more of us?" Kath asked incredulously.

"Looks like it. Ranger, you hurt?" Mabel knelt by the gold one, who seemed conscious.

"Yeah, I'm fine and-" a masculine voice came from the Gold Ranger, as Mabel presumed, tilted his helmet at her way, "who are you?"

"I was about to ask the same, but we gotta move," she helped the Ranger to his feet, but he staggered.

"The silver one's out cold," Kath reported, but paused at the sound of footsteps charging their way.

She looked about for a nearby exit and her eyes lay on the gaping window near them.

"Out by the window, everybody!"

"I'll take Silver-" Mabel started, but paused when she saw that Kath already had the Ranger leaning against her shoulder, one arm holding his arm and his legs trailed on the floor.

Rainbow Ranger gave a running start, and cleared the window with the Silver Ranger 'clinging' to her. The soft thud on the tarmac below followed by an "I'm okay!" assured her that her friend was fine.

"Our turn."

Zen Ranger helped Gold Ranger to his feet and this time he could hold himself up, but weakly.She hoistedhim by the shoulder and both made a running start for the window.

And both heard Zedd's terrible cry as they cleared the window and fell into the bushes next to an impatient Rainbow and unconscious Silver.


	3. Revelation

**Chapter 3: Revelation**

The 4 Rangers had gathered in the institution's track stadium, a little while away from the food court they just abandoned. The stadium was empty, since it rained not too long before the attack.

"There goes Zedd!" Kath cried. Mabel, standing next to her friend, looked up. The Gold Ranger looked up as well, sitting near the first row of chairs on the ground. His friend, the unfortunate Silver Ranger, laid prone on the ground next to him, still dead to the world.

A flash shone out of the windows, brilliant against the garish daylight, and disappeared as soon as it arrived.

"And there goes our troubles for now," the Gold Ranger finished.

A groan came from the chrome-coloured being.

"Hey, he's alive!" Mabel exclaimed.

Kath rolled her eyes, "he's just bashed, not brutally murdered."

Their gold counterpart was lightly shoving his friend. The groans were becoming more verbal.

"Get off me… Ow! Get off me… stop it!" A leg lashed out, and the Gold Ranger lunged aside to avoid a nasty blow. He did not need another hurt on his aching body.

"Easy, man! Wake up! They're gone!"

The Silver Ranger shook his head groggily.

"What happened… James?" The Silver one looked up to the Gold.

A gasp of shock came from the two girls.

"You're James?"

The Gold Ranger removed his helmet, revealing the features of a teenage boy with spectacles, sporting a mess of short spiky jet-black hair which closely following a rocker style and pale white skin, a contrast to his dark hazel eyes that seemed huge against his scrawny features.

"Yeah, I'm James. And you?"

Mabel and Kath looked at each other and nodded. Both tugged off their helmets and revealed their features to the boy.

His jaw dropped visibly.

"No way! Kath! Mabel!"

Mabel nodded at James and replied dryly, "yes, it's us. Surprised?"

"Very," James nodded to his friend.

Silver Ranger pulled off his own helmet, and revealed himself as a spectacled boy with almost the same skin hue as Mabel, save that his was slightly tanner. He sported the start of a moustache, and a pair of cheery brown eyes greeted the other peers.

"Mandric!" Kath and Mabel gasped.

James grinned at his friend, "Yes, it's Mandric. Surprised?"

All identities revealed, Mabel and Kath were reeling. These two were their classmates!

Why could they not identify their classmates in the first place? Their voices were distinct, their features were definitely theirs and there, but why could they not make the connection at all in the first place?

Mandric was now seated, his legs crossed under him, laughing at the girls' expressions.

"I know what you're thinking! We two couldn't recognize you too, right?"

James nodded, as amused as his friend.

"But, I don't get it," Kath recovered from her dosage of shock for the day, "I did not see anything strange going on at your side of the canteen. I thought it's just Mabel and me."

"So did us. We both had something exploding at our faces, and we were stuck in unsightly spandex suits that showed too much of us," Mandric gestured up and down himself, and James.

The girls looked the boys up and down.

"You guys look fine."

"No! I look like a stick!" James retorted. It was true; he was scrawny and his suit helped to exaggerate the point.

"I look like a slab of meat!" Mandric added his view. Yes, he on the other hand was more bulky in build, though not overweight, and his suit succeeded in showing that.

"I have it worst! I'm stuck in a MINI-SKIRT!"

Now Mabel started pulling at the mentioned apparel downwards, trying her best to lower the level of the skimpy skirt.

Kath started tugging the skirt too – for a much different reason.

"MINI-SKIRT! I WANT THAT MINI-SKIRT!"

"SHH!" James hushed her, and looked about.

Mabel took the hint and slipped on her helmet. Everyone was still clad in their suits and their helmets were off, revealing their identities. If the public knew, their livelihoods and privacy would be at stake.

She gestured to the doorway to the back of the building.

"This way!" she whispered to the others.

"And wear your helmets!"

The two boys led the way and Kath pulled Mabel at the rear.

"Hey, I saved Mandric right?"

"You did, and cleared the window with him on your back."

"How on earth did I do it? He's supposed to be heavy, but he felt like a lightweight!"

"I don't know, maybe the suit had muscles infused in the spandex," Mabel mused with a grin.

* * *

"How can it _be_?" 

Rita Repulsa raged, and she drove her staff to the ground. Sparks flew around the room, and scalded Baboo in the rear. He gave a high-pitched shriek, unfortunately close to a hysterical three-year-old-girl's shriek, and bolted out of the throne room.

But it was Lord Zedd who received the brunt of the attack. He did not flinch when his lovebird shrilled, but his spirit in him winced. He failed his wife again, after a long hiatus he took to recover from lost strength and a wilted spirit, and now he wished to regain his pride and ego and he lost it in a humiliating defeat.

The lady in mention was seated upon her throne, still ablaze with anger. She continued her tantrum.

"After those years of waiting, and there're MORE of them!" Her staff was raised once more, and an ornate pillar suffered an electrifying blow, and half of its mass disintegrated to the floor.

"My lady, please don't demolish the ship!" Goldar bowed from another pillar he was hiding behind, "I have a solution to this!"

Rita looked up, the dark anger on her face still evident, and Lord Zedd turned his head from his kneeling position.

"I noticed from the replays of the event just now, which I have destroyed," he quickly assured as the two villains almost raised their staffs when he mentioned the event, "That these Rangers are inexperienced.

"I think they were surprised when they took down the Putties. Besides, you beat up two of them just now and they didn't even fight back!"

The canine-like beast watched the two villains, who were still seething mad, andthought they were going to try their luck at target practice with him again. Giving a yelp of trepidation, he hid behind the pillar once more.

But this time,Repulsa and Zeddwere not intent on taking out their minion.

No, this time the minion was smart!

Zedd pulled Goldar away from the pillar and placed his arm around his ally's shoulder, much like one would do to a good friend.

And Goldar was more than surprised. He was speechless!

"Tell me, Goldar," Zedd spoke warmly to his minion, "just what do you think of the new… obstacles we met on Earth? Think we can clear them out of the way before we can take Earth as ours?"

Goldar was not sure on how to reply. The answer in his mind was a 'no', as they were beaten by Rangers before.

Then again, these were two volatile villains, and he had one with particularly bulging muscles with an arm around his neck.

The wiser option would be to agree.

Goldar smiled, "Yes, we can," close to the infamous Bob the Builder's chant.

"And I have an idea," Zedd carried on. Rita was looking on, easily catching what he had in mind.

"The Putties will take time to regenerate, meanwhile I want you," he thrust a finger at Goldar's chest, "to lead the next attack."

"Me?" Goldar squeaked.

"Yes, you, and we trust that you will not fail us."

Zedd released his arm over the minion and stood next to the lady on the throne. Rita was wearing as equally wide a grin as he.

"You'll take full control of the next attack, strategy, plans and whatever you will need," Repulsa continued, "and we hope for a victory."

"Rest assured, my lord and lady, I will," Goldar bowed at the couple, and walked away.

And to himself, he was pretty sure this was but a ploy for the two of them to have 'couple time'.

* * *

"So… how do we de-morph?" 

Mandric's question was a very good question. The gang was still stuck in their suits, and they were looking themselves up and down. Crammed in a thin corridor that the stadium had for people to pass through and not to hide in, it was the only cover they could find.

All were waiting for an answer from Kath.

A stupefied "What?" was all Kath gave them.

Mabel urged, "Think guys, think! We've got only fifteen minutes to the next class and I'm not going back in a mini-skirt!"

"I'm not the Power Ranger fanatic-"

"If you haven't noticed, only one of us is," Mabel intercepted James's remark, "and so we deal with it."

"OK guys," Mandric stepped in between the two, "no more fighting and more thinking. Any ideas?"

Kath had none to really share. The shock that came from the fight had finally seeped in: Zedd's for real, the Putties were for real, and the Power Rangers were real…

The Power Rangers were for REAL!

Blame realization to be cruelly late; Kath was beyond ecstatic. The thing she was rabidly enthusiastic and crazed about was for REAL! It was better than Mabel's dream come true, it was _her _dream come true.

It was for a while she was stuck within the revelry of the discovery, and when she finally snapped out of it by very persevering prods from Mabel.

"I think I found a way."

"Well, show us then!" Kath replied.

Mabel backed a bit, giving herself a bit of space just in case something other than de-morphing occurs.

She then mimicked the fingering her hands took up to morph into her suit, and drew them across her visor, parting across to the width of the helmet.

"De-morph!"

A bright light shone from the middle of the visor which engulfed Mabel entirely. The others had to look away; their visors were not the best substitutes of sunglasses.

When they looked back, Mabel was once again back in her clothes, not spandex, and the helmet and visor was gone, revealing her features to the others. The strange ornament that caused this havoc, the slim stick-like pendent, still dangled from her neck in its black-white fashion. She was clad in her white shirt and jeans, much to her relief.

And Mabel promptly tucked the Zen-coloured pendent under her collar, much to the amusement of the boys.

Kath wasted no time and was next to de-morph. She imitated Mabel's method, save the arrangement of her fingers differed, and once again the group had to look away as a bright glare came from Kath and when it faded, revealed Kath back in her normal clothes: a black top and equally blue jeans as Mabel's.

Mandric and James did theirs together at the same go while Mabel and Kath evacuated from the narrow corridor.

When Mandric and James had finally emerged, both were clad in the typical jean-and-shirt wear that made up most of the population of the institution, save the chrome-gold pendant James sported and a platinum-silver one for Mandric.

"Grief! Finally! No mini-skirt!" Mabel sighed.

Kath sulked, "I want a mini-skirt."

James had to interfere, "OK, OK! Now we're back to normal, where do we go from here?"

"Back to class, duh," Mabel replied.

"Will there be class? Four fighting beings just rampaged through the canteen, as well as aliens!"

What Kath said caused the others to think a little harder. Will school be out, due to the strange event that just occurred?

Mabel stepped in with the answer.

"Guys, listen. I bet that these strange pendants-" she indicated to the pendants the others had failed to hide under their apparel- "are equivalent to the communicators the fictional Power Rangers got-"

"They're not fiction! They're real!"

"-What you wish, Kath. We can use these to communicate, and we can do a field test now.

"One of us goes up there and sees the situation. Report with the communicator the situation going on, and we'll decide where to go from there. Questions?"

No one spoke.

"Good. I'll go and twiddle with the communicator. The rest of you remain here and grief, don't look suspicious!"

With that, Mabel jogged off for the food-court.

The three left behind decided that they would just pretend to be exercising together under the shelter of the stadium's roof. In truth, they were discussing about the turn of their lives, and of events.

"So, you were the one who lugged me out of Food-court 5 and carried me here single-handedly?"

Kath looked at Mandric, "Don't be surprised. I was shocked as well."

James looked up from his fake crunch on the red crumbly track, red bits of the dirt track in his spiked hair.

"You think that's queer?"

Kath grinned, "The Ranger spandex suits do boost our senses and human ability, much like the Power Ranger suits.

"But, Mandric is right."

"Probably the Rainbow edition of the suit came with steroids in it," Mandric mused.

"Red Bull, Orange Bull, Yellow Bull-" James ducked to avoid a blow from Mandric.

Kath quickly steered the conversation towards another direction, "So what really happened in the food-court? I'd thought you'd beat up the Putts before they knew it."

"So did I," Mandric propped himself on the edge of one of the many plastic chairs of the stadium closest to the ground, "but they attacked us by surprise.

You know what happens when that happens. We become 'Bishii' and 'Bashii', and the hammers would be the Putties. One of them smacked the back of my head," he rubbed the back of his head to emphasize, and winced vehemently.

James rolled his eyes.

"Well," Kath looked at the two boys, James now sprawled on the ground on his back, Mandric lazily slouched in a chair, "now that we're Power Rangers, what are we going to do?"

Before either boy could reply, Kath's rainbow-patterned ornament started to vibrate, and beeped most annoyingly.

Kath grabbed hold of it, and a panel of the pendant shifted and drew back, revealing what seemed to be a tiny television screen inside.

And on the screen was the hyped and enthusiastic smile of Mabel.

"Kath! I figured out the buzzer!"

"Congrats, tech-girl," Kath murmured.

Truth had it, Mabel was the one Kath went to whenever the music software failed to work and the lecturer was busy, and was the smart one who figured how to play the newly-arrived keyboards from the speakers on them instead of the headphones, and the whole class learnt the trick from her.

"And guess what? This block has school out! We're going home!"

"Not so fast, Mabel. We got to fetch whatever is left of our bags from the food-court and come back to the field."

Mabel's smile shrunk. "Oh. I hadn't thought of that."

"You could've figured that out, Zen-"

"-Don't call me that!-"

"Fine, _Mabel!_ We gotta find out what on earth we're going to do, now that we're Rangers."

Mabel's eyebrows shot up, and shrugged.

"Whatever you say, Kath. A lot of people have headed off, so the food-court's clear. I found our bags. Come on over before security does."

* * *

Beh, that took a while. KathRainbow has joined me as a co-writer, and has edited Chapter 1 and is working on Chapters 2. I will edit this later. 


	4. Fightin' Time

**Chapter 4: Monster Sighting**

Even if school had been called off for one day, it resumed the next.

Mabel was disappointed.

She had a feeling that more days in school would only mean more trouble and more wearing of that monochrome suit (Kath would insist) and the madness of fighting things which, by right, should not exist.

But they did. And they were not the product of many a midnight snack of buttered peas. Well, sometimes she had them for lunch. Or tea. Or dinner. Or….well, that wasn't the point.

Those... _things_ were solid to the touch, and were audibly present as well when they screeched and attacked. Mabel poked her headphones, wondering if she should bring them along next time to battle. Her eardrums would be glad for the protection.

Mabel tried her best to shrug off those thoughts as she trudged up the stairway. Kath and Mandric had called for a morning meeting before classes started. She knew what the hot topic was: What do we do now, since we're spandex-clad pendant-touting Rangers?

Mabel fingered the pendant that dangled from her neck. Upon closer inspection at home, she could describe it as a slim, cuboid-shaped ornament that was decorated evenly with white and black, and had compartments capable of transmitting audio and visual messages over from one device to another similar one via a strange transmitter. Mabel had not yet dared to_ dissect _the strange contraption.

And strangely enough, it did not react to interfaces and communication signals, nor could its receiving signals be read by human gadgetry and machinations. The oven did not fry itself when she pointed and activated the object at the appliance, nor did the television blow up.

She strongly believed she was holding an alien gadget in her hands.

"Mabel!"

Shaken by shock, Mabel snapped out of her daydream, and found out that she had collided with Kath. Apparently, she had walked straight into her friend in spite of the shorter girl's attempts to catch her attention.

Nearby, Mandric and James were snickering.

"Daydreaming, weren't you?" James teased.

"Not at all. I was reflecting upon my recent and remarkable discoveries of the cuboid communicators-cum-pendants that we each sport," Mabel calmly set herself down at the desk which the two boys 'reserved' for the meeting, "and so far, I've speculated that each is capable of transmitting audio and visual frequencies to analogous machinations and no other devices."

They stared at her blankly.

"Don't go 'Billy' on us," Kath shook her head, "what do you mean –_in layman's terms_ please?"

Mabel sighed, and rephrased with spots of hesitation, "I…tinkered with the…pendant last night and figured that we can send…video and audio messages to each other…and no one else."

"Like SMSing?" James supplied.

"Well, that's the bit I'm having trouble with."

"What do you mean?"

Here, Mabel gave a sigh of dismay, "Other than activating the messaging component by sliding this panel down-" she indicated with her own pendant, placing her thumb at the lower end of the ornament, "I have not realized the other possibilities of this… this _thing_."

James's features gave no hint of understanding.

"Just…..look at it! I see no conceivable way of utilizing the capabilities of such a device without resorting to dismemberment! And I'm not even sure if that endeavour would prove successful."

For all her bluster, Mabel still had lost faces staring back at her.

'_Grief, I have to translate myself!'_

"I mean to say, I can't find other uses unless I tear this apart! And I don't think that will help either."

The look of immense realization dawning on James's face almost drove Mabel to pummel him with her fists, but she shot a look instead.

Kath immediately diverted the topic, "So, guys," she sat herself between Mabel and James, "since we are heroes now, what are we going to do?"

"What do you mean?" Mabel queried. _Here we go._

"I mean, we're supposed to be grouping together more often, and get to know each other better!"

"If this is going to lead to a BGR-"

"It won't, Mabel. I just mean we will have to _unite_, be a team, a capable and efficient team ready to combat the evils that _threaten_ our world!" Kath rose and clasped the table edge with one hand and raised the other in a balled fist to emphasize.

Mandric coughed, "corny inspirational speech, Kath."

What he got back was a dark glower from the spectacled girl.

"Anyway," James quickly intervened, "no more fighting, more thinking. I think Kath means to say that if we are the new protectors, we will have to sharpen our abilities to thwart enemies and work together to accomplish that."

Kath gave the others a sneer of 'Hahaha-I'm-right' and the others have piped down and nodded to James's reasoning.

'_At least he's a little sane,'_ Mabel mused silently.

"You do judo, Kath?" Mandric asked.

Kath nodded eagerly, "Yellow belt. Going to work harder at it."

"Cool! Can we join in?" Mandric smiled.

"Doubt it."

"Then you can teach us! Show us the moves, and we'll catch the groove," Mabel suggested.

"That, I may be able to do. You guys better help me too then."

"Right," Mandric noted a point off his agenda, "and getting together?"

"I think we'll have to enlarge our seating capacity for lunchtime, Kath," Mabel looked to her friend.

Kath nodded that back. Even if it was Billy-speech, she could still catch it, but Mabel rarely spoke Billy-speech, but here she was ranting it off.

'_Must've been delayed shock from being a Ranger,'_ Kath decided.

"And if monsters attack during class-time?" James too had seen enough Power Ranger episodes in his heydays to understand.

"We'll have to jump out of them halfway, I'm afraid," Mabel was finally talking normally, "unless someone has a better solution."

"And one more question," Mandric took his turn, "who's the leader?"

For once, the group was silent.

Eyes began to dart between Mandric and Kath. Those two were the obvious choices: both had called this meeting and both were trying to sort things out for the team. Mabel would have rooted for Kath, and James for Mandric, so it would have been a tie if they tried to vote.

And neither were Kath or Mandric eager to accept the demanding role of the leader of a misfit group of peers.

Someone behind them cleared his throat, and that relieved the uneasy silence that hung in the air. The boys turned around while the girls looked up.

It was two of the classmates, Trevor and Kent. Both were eager lads, with blonde streaks running through their spiked black hair that stood upright stubbornly, and both wore similar sunglasses, framed quicksilver and wore equally wide grins. The two boys were well-known as "those bad-boy rejects": Cases of missing homework, absence from most classes and loud heavy metal blaring from the back of the lecture hall and even more cases of school-sin made up the boys' lists.

Both were almost mistaken as twins too, ever since they took a trend to dress up alike and do everything as a pair. The only way one could have distinguished one from another was that Trevor liked black and Kent liked white.

And Mabel could not help but glance down her neck to assure herself that her pendant was out of sight. There was no telling what those two would do if they saw a girl touting their signature colours.

"Hey, Man! Hey, J! Wanna jam with us later?" Trevor sat next to Mandric.

"We booked Studio D for a chill-out session," Kent sided up to James, "and the teacher's letting us two hours of fun."

"Cool!" Mandric turned all talk of hero-nonsense aside, "But we don't have our stuff right now…"

The similar-clad boys grinned and gestured to the guitar bags strapped to them.

"Cool!" James sat up, his eyes behind his specs gleaming.

Trevor's eyes wandered through the original group of four: two boys and two girls…

"Hey, Mandric, she's your girl?" Trevor thrusted a thumb in Kath's direction.

"No!" Kath immediately defended herself.

"And no ideas from you, Kent," Mabel shot back, "No one are items here."

The eyes of the two boys, however, were still brimming with mirth and a decided impishness.

"Fine," Trevor raised his hands and backed off, and Kent did likewise. They winked at Mandric and James, "See you at one!"

"And I call this meeting to a close," Mabel whispered in a hushed tone, "before anyone starts to have ideas not of us as mysterious heroes that just appeared yesterday but as _couples_!"

* * *

Goldar looked around, completely lost. 

This was the place where yesterday's battle took place?

It definitely did not look like a battlefield.

In fact, it was far from what Lord Zedd had reported. It was not 'torn to barren ground' nor 'scorched and reeked of burning wreckage' or even 'mundanely chrome-coloured'.

In fact, he was looking at a rainbow of colours. Blue metal-plastic chairs with black backs, white tabletops with the common yellow-streaked litter or brown tray with red utensils. All of them were standing upright, none of them were burnt.

But whatever the case, no one seemed to be about. Goldar knew how humans looked like, somewhat like Rita but not as ugly. There were none of them in sight.

"Good thing too," the alien murmured to himself as he strode on purposefully through the canteen. He had orders (from himself) NOT to meet the humanoids on this planet. They all were Power Rangers, he safely reasoned.

He knew perfectly well what he had to do: Implant a chip he had programmed personally, into a machine of some sort. A virus inside the chip should do the rest from there on.

So he had to find, first of all, a machine those Rangers would use.

And just at that moment, a carton box stood alone, not too far from him on one of the aforementioned benches.

He should not look in there. It was sealed and addressed to a 'recording studio', whatever that meant, and of all things it was sealed with, it was with red duct-tape and a stamp that warned any curious passers-by 'DO NOT OPEN'.

With a scratch of his nails, the red tape failed its duty. The flaps were removed and he saw what was inside: a strange ice-cream-with-a-cone shaped… thing.

But something caught his attention: It was a machine.

There were more of the machines in the box, but he decided that the one in his claws would be the lucky one.

He unscrewed the cap off, removed an offending circular disc, and was rewarded with the view of wiring and a chip.

He placed his chip next to that chip, and replaced all the contents with dexterity.

And with that, he slunk away to be beamed up by an impatient Baboo.

* * *

"Check out the loot!" 

Mandric raised an eyebrow as Kent carried something in his arms into the studio.

"What's that?"

"New mics!" Trevor gleefully replied as he raised two from the stock of ten.

James took out one and studied it. Dynamic, featured a bass boost, looked very sturdy.

"Cool…" James swung the equipment around, while the other three set up the systems and gave their guitars a tuning.

But Trevor was more than ready to give the spanking new products a field test.

He yelled into a hooked-up microphone with a ripped heavy-metal fashion and sent a riff up his guitar. The amplifiers resonated with the sudden attack of noise, but the boys nodded in approval.

The goods were delivered.

Another ripping voice reverberated, followed by a flurry of bass and lead guitar notes flying and the insane smashing of drums and cymbals as the song ended.

Mandric wiped away rivulets of sweat that trickled down his face, and James himself was looking more or less a mess. Trevor at the microphone and Kent at the drums were panting, but they all wore a large grin on their faces, ear to ear.

"That rocked," Kent admitted, and the other boys nodded in agreement.

It was then they heard a robotic 'bleep' from the amplifiers, and the sound of Trevor's hard-metal-voice ripped through the room, "Activation: Micro-Mecha! Destroy the Rangers!"

Mandric looked to James in that instant, while Kent and Trevor had a fleeting look of confusion.

The microphone that stood in front of Trevor leapt from its stand, to the muted horror of the boys, and began snaking its way to the middle of the room. The microphones that were rooted next to the guitar amplifiers and the drums also had eased themselves away from their stands and were following the possessed microphone to the centre of the room.

In total fear and cries of horror, the boys fled the studio, the guitars still strapped to James and Mandric while Trevor and Kent ran free. Flying ahead, Trevor and Kent were the first to dash to another part of the school.

But James and Mandric slowed to a halt, with some assistance from the guitars still strapped to them.

"That was weird," Mandric decided, panting heavily.

"Not weird. It's trouble," James corrected mid shallow breaths, "and it's time for the Rangers."

"Right. How did Mabel work this thing?" Mandric started fingering his pendant, but James had already activated his.

"Mabel! Kath! Monster! I repeat, Monster!"

* * *

Mabel and Kath made their way to the front foyer. They received the alert mere minutes after their lecture, and were in the least of moods to do anything more active than heading to the canteen for lunch, and both were ravenous. 

But both girls had not anticipated the hasty alert that Mandric sent, and both had to dart to a shaded area of the school building to morph, and hurried to where the two frantic boys were, clad in their spandex suits.

People gave way immediately as the two charged down the stairways. Kath was leaping down two steps at a time, Mabel resorting to the banister for speed. All the Rainbow Ranger could think of right now, hunger put aside, was the thrill of their first monster- fight. Fear was the last emotion that inhibited her mind then.

But it did when she felt someone grab her arm and a finger directed her to the sight both had missed.

A monster stood before them.

No, that lacked description.

A gargantuan beast stood before them. Cables made up its arms and legs, amplifiers were its feet, a drum set its chest and (strangely enough) microphones made up fingers and eyes.

And the eyes were glowing red. Mabel nearly queried about microphones having LEDs in them, and Kath would not have cared.

The monster gave a bellow, a high-pitched screech a hard metal rocker would yell incessantly in his songs.

"Micro-Mecha kill Rangers!" it screeched shrilly, raised its foot and brought it down – on two rather familiar boys.

Kath immediately lunged forward, leaving her friend in the dust and shoved the male Rangers aside, putting herself in harm's way.

Mabel almost yelped, and in horror, turned away to avoid the sight of impending doom and almost anticipated the death-cry of her friend.

It never came. But what Mabel heard were gasps of shock, and possibly awe.

Daring to look back, Mabel saw that her friend had done the miraculous: Hands extended above her head, she was holding off the monster's foot by sheer strength.

And (Mabel almost guffawed) Kath had quailed under the foot and even though she did what a hero did, she looked much like a petrified pipsqueak. That would be blackmail for another day.

Mabel then looked at James and Mandric, who were already morphed when they were nearly squished. The gold and silver figures, and herself, looked puny compared to the monster, so how were they to overpower it?

And Kath, her good friend whom she should never desert, was still fending off the foot with every intent not to let her arms give way.

From her place on the stairway, despite the throng of people who now had moved to the second floor far behind her and watched on (and she could feel their gazes upon her), Mabel thought. Scenario upon scenario flashed through her mind, pondering which action would leave Kath in one piece and the microphone monster in many pieces.

And the monster was still fuming and raging, like a rabid pit-bull lunging on its leash.

"Micro-Mecha kill Rangers!" It shrieked, a distorted voice reverberating in her helmet, and obviously everyone's ears.

When the scenario of choice came to mind and she gave it the go-ahead (though still with a hint of reluctance), she looked up to Kath, with something of a short tilt of thought to the unfortunate girl still pinned under the monster. Micro-Mecha, as it has christened itself, was not going to live long.

She just about hollered her instructions when she caught herself. She nearly said their names, and if she had, she would never hear the end of it from the others.

"Gold, approach the monster from behind! Silver, take the front! I'll take the other side! Rainbow, keep at it!"

"I am I am!" Kath shouted back, and Mabel caught a tinge of chagrin in her voice. She still had her wit. She was fine.

James moved first, slowly edging around the monster, and Micro-Mecha eyed him with his LED eyes. Mandric followed suit, slowly approaching the mech directly at the front. Mabel herself then slunk to the monster's right. Kath, still pinned under the monster's foot, struggled to keep the foot from descending any further.

When the monster was surrounded, Mabel looked to Kath and gave a nod to Kath.

'_Forgive me for this!'_

"Hey, Micro-Mecha! You over-sized slag-built coward! You can't hurt a Ranger! You can't even hurt a fly!"

And the beast heard the rude comments. It growled at the Zen Ranger, and retorted, "Micro-Mecha hurt Ranger!"

Her ears rang as the distorted voice shot straight at her.

"Then prove it! Crush her!"

Obviously, she was directing at the unfortunate Rainbow Ranger, who must have waned at that.

"WHAT THE-"

Kath immediately felt the change of pressure. Suddenly, much more force came down on her, but she miraculously kept her ground.

Then, she heard the war cries from her team, and suddenly the strain vanished. She then noticed she was no longer shadowed, and looked up.

The monster had staggered back, a shrill cry rose from the beast. Kath could easily see the black-and-white, gold and silver figures clinging on the side, back and abdomen respectively.

Mabel climbed up the mass of cables with much more ease than she expected. Maybe it's the thrill that the plan worked. The equilibrium of the monster was upset when it bore its leg down on Kath, and the other side was weaker and less stable. With a heave from her part, the monster had staggered. The boys leapt at the monster, and Mabel had already made her ascent on the mechanical Mount Everest.

A cheer rose from somewhere in the background, and Mabel kept climbing. She could see James making better progress, the back being the best spot on the monster to climb.

Mandric was at the same level as her.

The monster was not happy about the new parasites, and was swinging around fervently in a desperate attempt to dislodge the Rangers. The three Rangers clung on, fighting against the centripedal force.

And a sonorous clang resounded from above. Mabel tilted to look, to find a bench meeting its end by the gigantic monster's foot.

But the spinning had stopped, and Mabel fought dizziness to climb.

"Gold! Silver! We need to distract the monster!"

"One distraction, coming up!" James had reached the monster's shoulder.

He lunged for the eyes of the monster, and shielded the lit microphones with his hands.

"I suggest you stay put, mech!"

Now Mandric and Mabel hastened their climb up the being's chest, and reached their destination: the heart of the monster.

"Look at this! A microphone is a heart!" Mandric pointed.

Both were staring at the head of a microphone, steadily flashing like what Mabel recalled as a heart-light from Bionicle.

"And that's what we'll need." Mabel slid her hand through the mesh of cables and groped for the connection of the mentioned microphone.

Instantly the monster responded with a yowl of panic and its gigantic hand grasped for the parasite at its chest.

Mabel barely had the chance to slip her hand out of the mesh and lower herself. The hand had missed her, but it got Mandric.

He disappeared from her side, and Mabel once again snuck her hand for the connection. When she felt the clip and the end of the microphone, she grinned.

And tugged the cable. Hard.

Now the monster's scream had a new tone in it, Kath was positive about it. The cry drove the horde of students at the stairs backward in shock at the sudden intensity of the sound. Mabel leapt off the monster and James followed suit, both Rangers landing on their feet and hands. Mandric, however, was unceremoniously released from the hand that threatened to strangle him and landed in a heap on the ground.

The two helped a whining Mandric (who was whining about why he was the only one getting hurt in the battles) to a safe distance from the enraged beast, and Kath joined them.

Micro-Mecha's cry diminished into a whimper as its cable-mesh body gave way. The cables loosened and were back to their flimsy and limp state. The body would not hold, and the monster crumpled to the ground in a flurry of black cables falling like rain to the ground.

The silence that followed after was of some tension, and a cheer rose from the crowd behind.

The four Rangers turned to face them, a little unsure of what to expect.

"Time to make an exit," a whisper came through the Gold, Silver and Zen Rangers' helmets, "stage left and to the stadium."

And they ran.


End file.
